Parking in downtown Starkville has changed. The Starkville Police Department will start administering tickets to drivers who violate the time limit Feb. 12.
Cars will be allowed to park in front door parking spots for up to two hours.
David Lindley, Starkville chief of police, said the police department is enforcing this rule at the request of the Greater Starkville Development Partnership.
“They felt the ability of patrons to come to stores was being impaired by people who park there all day who work nearby,” Lindley said.
Patrolled roads are Main Street from Lafayette Street from Jefferson Street to Lampkin Street; Washington Street from the Oktibbeha County Court House to Lampkin Street; West Main Street to Jackson Street; and Jackson Street from Main Street to Lampkin Street.
Numerous restaurants and businesses in the Central Business District have supported the GSDP for the enforcement of this rule.
Brian Kelley, co-owner of Restaurant Tyler, said downtown Starkville has become more of a destination the past couple years, so more customer parking is needed.
“We have already noticed a big difference in available customer parking over our lunch hour the past two days since the ordinance has been enforced,” Kelley said. “It makes it a lot easier for customers to get into the downtown restaurants and shops, so we are grateful that the mayor and Board of Alderman, along with the Starkville Police Department, noticed the issue and addressed it.”
Other businesses are not seeing as much change as others.
Alesia Brown, retail manager at Aspen Bay Candle Company, said she does not think the re-implementing of the parking time limit will affect Aspen Bay positively or negatively.
“We generally have parking spots in front of the store,” Brown said. “People will probably choose to park in public parking on Main Street.”
Public parking lots are available in the downtown area that will not be affected by the two-hour time limit.
To help with the transition, the Starkville Police Department is trying to educate as many people as possible about the enforcement of the rule.
“We want people to comply, so we do not have to issue tickets,” Lindley said.
Lindley said the Starkville Aldermen board voted to hire a part-time officer to monitor the downtown area until May 31.
The board will then decide whether or not to continue the regulation.
In the meantime, the rule will be enforced.
“We are a proud member of the GSDP and sincerely appreciate them helping boost business and traffic,” Brown said.
He also said parking fines will increase starting in June because there was some concern about the parking fines being out of alignment with the fines of other jurisdictions. He also said the fines have not been recently updated.
“There was some discussion at the Board of Aldermen about the fact that the fine has not been increased for well over a decade,” Lindley said. “They were the same rates we had 20 to 25 years ago.”
While two hours might seem like a short time, some believe the time limit will not be a problem.
“Shopping in Starkville does not take more than two hours on average,” Brown said.
Lee Moseley, sophomore chemistry major, said he thinks the time limit is a good idea.
“On a rare occasion, a dinner might take more than a few hours,” Moseley said. “But other than that it should not be a problem.”